TNAG-1461-FCO40-1987-Future-of-the-Dependent-Territories-Hong-Kong--Gibraltar-and-1986 — Page 15

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territories is independence and opposition would probably be roused if it became clear that there had been a major change of

course by HMG. The goal of independence has been at the heart of HMG's post war policies, even if movement towards it is now very slow. This is true even in cases where the inhabitants have no particular desire or actively do not wish to see the UK relinquish control. None of these considerations, militating against dependent status, would be decisive if it were to become

clear in relation to a given territory that the only cost effective way of exercising HMG's responsibilities was to close

off the option of independence and/or to resume greater control

on a permanent basis.

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There are moreover a number of general considerations which

in practice limit the scope for loosening the ties with the UK

Para. 2.2.5 has already noted the improbability of finding

another power ready to assume new colonial responsibilities

- We believe that abandonment has to be ruled out as an option

on moral, legal and political grounds. A variation on abandonment would be to offer full UK citizenship to the

inhabitants of a dependency forcing them to choose between a

new life in the UK or going it alone. This would be

politically more acceptable than straight abandonment (even

with a large disengagement settlement). The option could

not however be safely used until after the transfer of Hong

Kong in 1997.

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We question the feasibility of the UN trusteeship option

which has in the past been used mainly as a means of crisis

management and would almost certainly fail to gain

sufficient support in the UN if requested in connection with

the UK dependent territories.

We also question whether a partial UK disengagement, implied

by the formulae of protected or associated status, would

offer any improvement for the UK over the present status of the territories. We believe that they would do little, particularly in the Caribbean, to relieve the UK of the

potential long term costs, instead setting the territories in new forms of dependence which might complicate the road to sovereignty. In effect such formulae would tend only to

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